JR Elsewhere

Senkaku Islands: a Fundraising Speech that went wrong

Huanqiu Shibao, via Northnews, Oct 11, 2012 —

Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries official Eiichiro Washio said on October 9 that “who owns the Diaoyu islands doesn’t matter at all, they may as well belong to China”. The Japanese government warned Eiichiro Washio on October 10, suggesting that what he had said could lead to “misunderstandings” on the Chinese side.

According to Japanese television NHK, chief cabinet secretary Osamu Fujimura told a press conference on October 10 that “this morning, I got a phone call from the , concerning a warning issued to Eiichiro Washio. What Eiichiro Washio said strongly emphasized that Japan needed to strengthen the defense of the country’s territory, but the following content could very easily be misunderstood.” Fujimura said: “As far as I’m concerned, the central government has implemented the policy of ‘nationalization’, therefore, I hope that Eiichiro Washo will mind his talk”.

Fujimura told the press conference that “Eiichiro Washio has issued a clarification himself today, saying that he resolutely supports the center’s ‘nationalization’ policy, and absolutely does not believe that the islands may be owned by China.”

According to “Yomiuri Shimbun”, Japan’s minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries official Eiichiro Washio said on a fundraising dinner speech that “who owns the Diaoyu islands doesn’t matter at all, they may as well belong to China.” There may have been some faulty formulations, [attention – the remaining words of this paragraph may be a mistranslation on my part – JR] but the matter just looked as if “Chinese government” had been written on the Japanese land register. “Yoimuri Shimbun” believes that Eiichiro Washio contradicted with the Japanese government’s “nationalization” policy, and was probably severely criticized, also from the opposition.